DESIGN STUDY - LOBSTER POTS

Autumn Berries

Suddenly the hedgerows are full of berries, a sure sign that autumn really is on its way. I hate the fact that summer's coming to a close but autumn is a season of such wonderful colours that I always get excited about the first signs of leaves turning to red and gold. That hasn't happened yet and the trees still have their late summer green hues; it isn't the fresh green of spring now though, but a duller, darker green as if they're building up their energy for the competition to be the brightest, most over-the-top tree on the block!

I'm still playing around with my new camera, trying out different settings. I prefer to use full manual because then I can see what I'm setting up and can try to figure out why. I still need to get more experience with focusing, especially with shallow depth of field. I would have liked the bunch of berries above to have stood out against a more blurred background so I have a lot more experimenting to do yet.

The wonderful colour of the leaves in this last photograph caught my eye; they were in the middle of a hedge dividing two fields and all around was green except for this burst of pink. I have no idea what it is - at first I thought it had berries on it but when I got closer I saw that they are delicate little seed pods. Ain't nature grand!!

Colours of June

These are my Colours for June. What a lovely month it is. So colourful and full-blown - fecund! Wonderful word - describes June beautifully! These are the chives which run riot each year in one of my small herb areas (to call it a herb garden would be a bit too grand!)

This is a honeysuckle which grows over an obelisk in the front flower bed. It's been there for years and always produces the most amazing display of flowers. I have another one at the other end of the flower bed and although it grows like mad and needs cutting back really hard, it produces very little in the way of flowers. Very strange.

I'm so pleased this close-up shot came out so well. It just sums up the frothy, pretty peony and this flower was at its absolute best when I took the picture. Now they're finished and looking sad and pale with brown edges.

This is my hydrangea with almost black leaves. I can't remember its name but I looked long and hard to find one and over the years it has rewarded me with better and better displays of flowers. It won't grow in the direction I want it to and it's a nuisance to mow around, but I just love it to pieces.

April Colours

Wow - spring has come on us like a galloping horse after the dreadful March weather. My tulips are out in the garden - opening their heads for the daytime and closing up again at night. Tulips are my favourite flower but I wouldn't think of cutting any of them to put indoors - I buy those from the flower shop!

I can't think what this is called but it has the glossiest evergreen leaves and at this time of year a riot of huge clumps of tiny yellow flowers. It spreads at will and I let it because I love it. Once I tried to dig some of it out but soon gave up because the leaves are very spikey!

This little shrub has a mate which is a male which I think it pollenates it. It has never looked so good as it does this year - really healthy and happy.

I only put this shrub in last year. It lives close to the house in a rather dry border which is slightly tucked under the eaves so it doesn't get too much rain. It seems to like it though! It has a friend nearby which I put in at the same time (you can just see it against the wall) but that one hasn't got its full summer clothing on yet so one for another post

This shrub has been in for quite a few years now - it dates from the time I planted several shrubs all of which had white flowers or berries. Since then various other colours have crept in but this is the first one to flower. The brown behind it is the beech hedge which has only just started to turn green in a few places.

Colours of March

Only just in time to post my colours for March. These were all taken at the beginning of the month when I was on holiday in Suffolk. The weather was cold and windy but mostly dry and this shot was taken on one of the lovely sunny days.

These reeds looked lovely with the sun shining through them and lighting the tops. Best viewed full size.

This lonely bulrush is really pretty outlined against the water. It was a grey day which is a pity because it would have looked wonderful with the sun on it and against blue water.

February colours

Here are my 'Colors of the Month'. This challenge can be found at Life Looms Large . This picture was taken near where I work. It was a cold, slightly frosty morning with the mist still visible in the valley. The best sort of February day.

This was taken on one of my dog walks. The rusty old farm trailer which is gradually becoming overgrown and forgotten in the corner of a field appealed to me as quite a good composition.

This is a typical February scene, devoid of colour and just waiting for something to start growing. February seems to be one of those miserable months when it just rains and rains, on and on. But just when I was beginning to despair of any colour in my life...


...it arrives! The camellia is always the first thing to bloom - usually about the same time as the snowdrops. By now it's usually in flower but the unusually cold recent weeks seem to have stopped it short at the bud stage. I hope it'll be OK when it warms up a bit. It's in a corner of the house outside my kitchen window and it's always a joy to look out and see its cheerful pinkness when all around it is dull and brown.

Colours of January

These are the colours of January around my local lake. Silvers, greys, whites and the palest of pale blues. It's unusual for us to have such a hard and prolonged snowy period here so it was imperative that I got out there with my camera to record it.


Another view - this time of part of the lake that hadn't yet frozen, seen through a stand of delicate winter stems wearing their snowy gloves.

I posted these after visiting Life Looms Large and My Life is Just a Tapestry both of whom are also posting their colours of the month. If you want to do the same, go to Life Looms Large and join in! I intend posting photos of 'my' lake through all the months of the year because it's the place where the changing seasons impress me most as I walk round it at least once a day with Misty the Irish Wolfhound. I love to stop and note what's new - who's had ducklings, where the heron's fishing today or whether the old swan has found himself a new mate (I do hope he does or I'll miss the annual arrival of those beautiful cygnets).